Interview with Marit Moum Aune

Interview with Marit Moum Aune (Director)

How did you get involved in the project?I worked with one of the writers before in a feature. I think that’s why he asked me to participate.

What attracted you about the story of this series?It was quite magical to get the script. In a way, it is like you describe this country. It shows the Nordic countries’ reality and why migrants come. It describes that time in a very humorous way, but with quality. Also, they had some ideas about doing scenes that were meaningful – some of the short films within the series.

I did the casting process and it was also magical to find the right actors. When I saw Bartek, the protagonist, I thought the character was written for him ― he was born in Poland.

How relevant do you consider this story, taking into account the immigration wave from the Middle East last and this year?It’s very interesting that, in Norway, you have plenty of Polish workers; they are the main group of immigrants coming to work to this country. As we are a very rich country because of our oil reserves, Norwegians don’t do many jobs anymore and that’s why we have these many immigrants coming. A lot of us feel somehow guilty about it. A lot of Norwegians don’t like how we have become an arrogant country, so this was a possibility to show a reality of the country and how immigrants see us.

How would you describe the series for a complete different public (someone in Mozambique or Argentina)? Why they shouldn't miss any of the episodes?This is about rich people who very often think that poor people are not as smart as they are. That is foolish.

This is a very universal series as this happens all around the world. You can apply it to Mexicans going to America, neighbor countries ― even in the same country if you have deep differences within its regions.

Nordic series have gained success in the international market lately; what do you think is the reason for this phenomenon?I think that the most important reason is that series are funded by the State. So when you start making it, you don’t look for the commercial success. This is more close to art instead of focusing on sales. For Scandinavia, it is very important to do these kinds of series because of the languages, we need to keep our culture alive and TV is very important for that. That is why an important amount of money is being spent on that.

Another important factor is that, in Scandinavia, many of the directors are coming from theatre. That means everybody is very focused on the quality of storytelling and acting.

Are you working on any projects at the moment? Can you tell us something about them?I just finished the script for a feature film. Recently, I got the news that I’ll be working with Agnes Ravatn, adapting her novel, The Bird Tribunal.

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